Yesterday at Council we debated the Council’s Corporate Plan and the Cabinet Workplan.
The latter is the Council’s priorities for the forthcoming year and as the official opposition we will be consistently scrutinising the performance of the Council against the priorities they have set down in the Workplan. The Corporate plan however is more of a box-ticking exercise and seems to essentially be a version of the Council’s Local Area Agreement targets (agreed with Government) with added flowery language. It also contains the most jargon-filled page I’ve ever seen in four years as a Councillor – and that takes some doing!
The page is entitled “links between our priorities, outcome and reporting framework”.
First of all you have the national frameworks.
The Seven Adult Social Care Outcomes…
- Improved health
- Improved quality of life
- Making a positive contribution
- Exercise of choice and control
- Freedom from discrimination and harassment
- Economic well-being
- Personal dignity and respect
…and the five Every Child Matters outcomes:
- Be healthy
- Stay safe
- Enjoy and achieve
- Make a positive contribution
- Achieve economic well-being
Next you have the “regional and sub-regional context” – the multi-area agreement between Greater Manchester Authorities.
After that you have the aspirations from the Sustainable Community Strategy. There are seven of these:
- A healthy city
- A safe city
- A learning and creative city
- A city where children and young people are valued
- An inclusive city
- An economically prosperous city
- A city that’s good to live in
Next you have the Salford Agreement priorities. There are seven of these too:
- Smoking, obesity, alcohol and drug abuse, supporting older people, vulnerable adults, teenage pregnancy
- Fear of crime, anti-social behaviour
- Education attainment, access to higher education
- Parenting and family life, looked-after children
- Community cohesion, engagement and empowerment, child poverty
- Worklessness, basic skills, MediaCityUK, enterpirse
- Climate change, environmental attractiveness, access to home, transport and connectivity
Linking in with these are the pledges within the Corporate Plan:
- Improving health in Salford
- Reducing crime in Salford
- Encouraging learning, leisure and creativity in Salford
- Investing in young people in Salford
- Promoting inclusion in Salford
- Creating prosperity in Salford
- Enhancing life in Salford
Finally, we have the five “think” headings for the Cabinet Workplan:
- Think family
- Think neighbourhoods
- Think skills and work
- Think healthy living
- Think city
That’s all crammed on to one page. Phew!
Now when you actually boil all that jargon down to basic issues, there isn’t a great deal to disagree with here, but each one of those sets of slogan is backed up by a huge report that has taken many hours and a great deal of money to produce. Do we really need all of these slogans and all of these reports? It’s time to stop talking and start doing.
Improving health in Salford
Hope you do not need expensive drugs?
Obesity in children.
You were there when i was i quote no body is going to tell me what to eat!
Head of what department.
Fear of crime. Confusing statement i suppose it’s all in our head and it’s nor really going on.
A City thats goos to live in. Perhaps that should be put on LABOUR leaflets and they can distrubute it on some of the areas i visit.
It makes me so angry the people of this city deserve the best. I am like you proud to represent them it’s a shame what parts of this city have been allowed to fall into neglect..
Joe
just as a matter of interest joe were you still present when Steve Cooke endorsed the cabinet work plan on behalf of the lib dems
It’s really a shame john that i failed this year to get the groups backing. I can assure you that i would have given you a better run for your money. I have to accept steve is in the position of deputy but sorry in name only. Pleased be assured i will offer the people of this city my view. Your own lead member made the quote i think we all no who. You state in your budget your wish to put up school meals.While our children eat junk. We lack adequate playing fields.People of this city live in a post code lottery for drugs.Crime goes unreported. And Sorry i had to leave at lunch but i belive you have a lot of problems to worry about without me. I will over the next two years continue my fight regards joe
well joe I cannot fault you for your honnesty. but if you are so disillusioned with the leadership of your party why did you not have the courage that geoff aibsworth showed when he decidec that he had enough of normans leadership. Of coursw in a city like salford there are always problems to be solved but I will bever run away from them.I fight for a vision of what this city could become not what it was like in the past. you disagree but surely there can be some common ground between us
John i was brought up in Salford,do you remember a long time ago before i was elected.i came to see you in my position of chiarman of a local group. We discussed langworthy long before urban spalsh. I asked how your council could have allowed an area in which i had once lived, an area that any one would of been proud to live get into such a mess. You never really offered any real answers. And i am sorry that is how i feel now. I respect you for the position you hold. But i was for many years in my youth a proud card carrying member of the labour party. What it as become nationaly and localy is not the party i joined. Norman as is faults and i will carry on my fight to one day lead the group but he now sits back and listens, and he allows me the right to speak out he belives in this party and i will defend him, not the best relationship but it his all we will ever have. My goals are to look forward to 2010 win or lose i will fight to remove as many of your members my pocket will allow.Then i feel we will see true democracy within this city
Regards
Joe